Capacity Sharing as a Mechanism for Amplifying and Empowering Diverse Voices in International Development Evaluation Partnerships

Abstract Information: Program evaluation in international development contexts is often complex and difficult – requiring an array of domain, contextual, and analytical expertise that is rarely encompassed in a single individual or entity. Evaluation partnerships that leverage deep local contextual understanding, community relationships, and expertise bolstered by specific domain and analytical expertise from external partners create robust opportunities for capacity sharing that enhance the capabilities of all partners while delivering evaluation products reflecting diverse perspectives. Despite the affordances of in-country and international partnerships, these collaborations require intentional and careful management to form and flourish. Without this intentionality, evaluation partnerships can become transactional rather than collaborative and fail to fully capitalize on the full depth and breadth of partner knowledge, capacity, and expertise. This panel will reflect on key components of successful partnership development and capacity sharing derived from a USAID-funded external evaluation of an accelerated basic education program in Somalia. The multi-national evaluation team included researchers with wide-ranging evaluation and education expertise from the Evaluation and Learning Research Center at Purdue University (ELRC), researchers with extensive international program experience from the Resilient Africa Network (RAN) in Uganda, and in-country experts with robust data collection and evaluation expertise combined with deep knowledge of the local context from the Somali Research and Development Institute (SORDI) in Mogadishu, Somalia. This panel will focus on strategies for developing and nurturing effective evaluation partnerships organized around a concept of capacity sharing, that embraces the notion that all partners contribute to and benefit from the knowledge and expertise of all group members. Panelists representing ELRC, RAN, and SORDI will reflect on lessons learned from this evaluation focusing on capacity sharing around three key activities – data collection, data analysis and interpretation, and stakeholder engagement. We’ll reflect on lessons learned and describe our approaches to developing an integrated evaluation team that honors and grows the knowledge and capacity of all partners, including nurturing and incorporating perspectives of novice evaluators, to produce effective evaluation products.